My Life in Academia

I am a non-traditional academic (i.e. transitioned to academia after several years working in the industry). I am currently a Lecturer at the Northeastern University College of Professional Studies. Previously, I taught doctoral courses in Healthcare Management and Policy at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and graduate/ undergraduate courses in Information Technology/Systems at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Syracuse University. Additionally, I have held a Visiting Research Assistant Professor position at Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, and a Research Fellow at Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business. During my doctoral studies at Syracuse University, I have served as Teaching Assistant and Instructor in the Whitman School of Management.

Lecturer @ Northeastern University [10/2019-present]: I enjoy teaching new generation of business analytics / informatics professionals on the nuances of Predictive Analytics, and Database Management Systems using a combination of open-source technologies- R, Python, SQLite, and RStudio. 

Visiting Research Assistant Professor @ Vanderbilt University [6/2019-10/2019]: I collaborated with Prof. Eric Johnson, Dean of Owen Graduate School of Management on a NSF grant funded project. In this study, we analyze the effects of EHR meaningful use, and cybersecurity controls on care performance at hospital emergency department (ED) using data from multiple sources on all US hospitals attesting to the EHR incentive program during the period 2012-2017. The increased digitalization of health care information, as envisaged thru “promoting interoperability [a.k.a meaningful use MU] incentive program, is accompanied by cybersecurity controls [necessitated by regulation and cyber threats] to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of health care data. Meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) systems is expected to improve health care. However, practitioners are often concerned that cybersecurity controls may adversely affect timely care to patients, especially because patient history and relevant clinical information will not be quickly available to clinicians for decision making. Our analysis showed at hospitals compliant with Stage-1 and Stage-2 requirements of EHR meaningful use, compared to hospitals not attesting to meaningful use, patients with chest pain/heart attack recieve ECG about 0.8 and 1.7 minutes earlier respectively; and about 3.2 percent and 5.5 percent more stroke patients get head CT/MRI results within 45 minutes of their ED arrival. Preliminary results of the study was presented at 2019 INFORMS annual meeting in Seattle, WA, and 2019 Conference on Health IT and Analytics in Washington, DC. 

Faculty Position @ Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) [8/2018-6/2019]: I served as Assistant Teaching Professor at the Robert A. Foisie School of Business at the  Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I taught courses in the STEM-oriented graduate and undergraduate programs including Database Application Development (involved database design, business query writing using SQL/ SQLite, and Android app prototype development), business data management (involves database design, business query and prototype application development in Microsoft Access), innovating with information systems (involves case-based learning in conjunction with developing a proposal for IT based solution for a real-world problem), and creating value through innovation (involves proposing innovative information systems based solution). In these courses, students are required to conceptualize and develop (or propose) IT solutions to real-world problems that could potentially facilitate digitalization of organizational processes at some profit or non-profit oriented organizations. Student groups are formed to assure sufficient professional and demographic diversity to reflect the emerging trend of diversified teams in the globalized economy. Further, student groups are often required to conduct ‘field’ trips and/or communicate with their target organizations to understand their data needs. Such approach allows to enrich learning experience, and enhance students’ competencies in critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork.

Faculty Position @ University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) [6/2013-8/2018]: I served as Assistant Professor of Healthcare Management and Policy position at the UTHealth School of Public Health during 2013-2018 before coming to WPI. At UTHealth, I primarily taught in doctoral program and few courses in master of public health program. I mentored several doctoral and master students, and two students from each program completed their dissertation/thesis under my guidance. Additionally, I created a curriculum for 'Health Information Technology Management' as minor concentration in the doctoral program.

Postdoc Researcher @ Dartmouth College [2/2008-5/2013]: After my doctorate, I held a Research Fellow position at the Center for Digital Strategies at the Tuck School of Business, and was a postdoc affiliate with the Institute for Security, Technology, and Society at Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth, I expanded my research into the area of health IT particularly focusing on the health information privacy/security issues, regulatory compliance (HIPAA), and organizational-level impact of health IT use on process quality, patient safety, and imaging (in)efficiency. These research projects were conducted in collaboration with two faculty mentors: Professor M. Eric Johnson, then Associate Dean and the Benjamin Ames Kimball Professor, and faculty director of CDS [Prof. Johnson is currently the Ralph Owen Dean of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management]; and Professor Denise L. Anthony, then Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Director of the Institute for Security, Technology, and Society [currently Professor of Health Management and Policy at University of Michigan School of Public Health]. 

Doctoral Training @ Syracuse University [9/2002-1/2008]: I completed my dissertation under the mentorship of Professor Michel Benaroch, a leading expert in the economics of information technology (IT) investment and IT investment risk management, at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. My dissertation titled “Measurement of Information Technology Investment Risks: A Multifactor Model and its Operationalization” conceptualized a measurement framework for IT investment risks through the lens of Arbitrage Pricing Theory from Finance literature, a multifactor risk-return model to price risks of assets traded in financial markets. Within this innovative measurement framework, my research showed how an organization could empirically price IT investment risks using examples of two different classes of IT risks, namely software development risks which affects implementation phase of IT investments, and customer adoption risk which affects potential returns from IT investment in operational phase.

Background/ Life before Academia

I come from a humble upbringing and was raised in Bhilai, a mid-sized city in India. After completing my basic education in Hindi medium (yes, English is my second language) at two different public schools, I became the first college graduate (and followed by master and doctorate) in my extended family from both sides of parents. There upon, I worked for several years in different organizations (both manufacturing and software) and my last employment, before coming to United States for my doctoral training in 2002, was with the Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab at Bangalore, India, a subsidiary of Honeywell International, USA, a Fortune 100 company. 

During my early career, as quality engineering/management professional, I had the privilege of working with professionals at different layers of organizations from the shop floor to the top floor. I have conducted design of experiments, collected data in machine shops/chemical plants and performed statistical modeling for quality improvement, reviewed engineering designs of cooling tower parts and assemblies, implemented quality management system compliant to international standards (e.g., ISO 9001 and SEI’s Capability Maturity Model). Some of my most gratifying experiences include helping my organization to achieve CMM Level-4 certification and prepare it for Level-5 certification; developing a software tool that could count lines of codes of software programs written in multiple languages and platforms accommodating for numerous patterns of code commenting styles prevalent among software professionals; and conducting ad-hoc software testing on web-based system developed for organization-wide software project management/review system and metrics management. 

While working with different organizations, I learned a lot about human behavior spanning from individual-level to team-level to organization-level;  how to examine a technical or sociotechnical system, how lessons from one system could be extrapolated to another system; and most importantly how we humans tend to exhibit somewhat similar behavioral pattern irrespective of whether we work at profit-oriented or non-profit or even government organizations. Those experiences and observations continue to guide me on how to think about a specific research problem today in my areas of current interest.